One month in, what MLB teams are over and under-performing expectations?

This is a guest post by Rob Toledo. Rob is the Editor at SportFacts.org, a Seattleite who drinks a lot of coffee and doesn’t mind the rain too much. Despite crying through almost every MLB season, he loves the Mariners with all his heart. Despite recent success, he’s still always worried about the Seahawks collapsing, as any Seattle sports fan should be.

Is it time to sound the alarm? Or perhaps it’s time to prematurely make space for the World Series trophy. One month in, it’s always fun to review analysis from the beginning of the season and compare it to the present standings. While the season has plenty of time left for terrible starts to rebound nicely, and of course unpredicted win streaks to come crashing down, we thought it would be fun to take a look and determine what teams are under-performing expectations and what teams are over-performing.

Teams that appear to be over-performing expectations:

3) Minnesota Twins (Fan Optimism Score: 20) – One of the hottest starts of the season! A lot of fans expected The Twins to remain a cellar dweller this year, but a few wins right off the bat has them singing a different tune during the seventh inning stretch, at least for now.

2) Arizona Diamondbacks (Fan Optimism Score: 39) – Huge improvements at the beginning of the year, and a rock-solid home record have created a lot of excitement for Dbacks fans. An impressive run differential, and some of the hottest offense in the league. Are there skeptics that this can continue? Sure, but might as well enjoy it now!

1) Houston Astros (Fan Optimism Score: 45) – A lot of fans argued that last season might have been a fluke, but The Astros came out strong again this season, creating a bit more confidence in a fanbase that has gotten used to losing seasons over the past few years. Playoff hopes are alive and well in Texas, at least for one team.

Teams that appear to be under-performing expectations:

3) Texas Rangers (Fan Optimism Score: 16) – Speaking of Texan teams, what the heck happened here? All dominant franchises eventually fall, but the 2017 season for the Texans has been pretty rough. Napoli is currently batting a .155, a huge drop off from his 2016 powerhouse hitting.

2) San Francisco Giants (Fan Optimism Score: 13) – Hard to blame anything but bad luck on this one, but with the SF Giants suffering some critical injuries to their star lineup, it’s easy to see why they haven’t met high expectations

1) Seattle Mariners (Fan Optimism Score: 12) – What can be said about one of the most “pre-season hopeful” fan bases in the MLB. Every year, at the end of most seasons it appears the Mariners are just starting to get into an impressive groove, only to start the next season in disappointing fashion.

How about your team? How do you think they’re doing? Comment below and let us know!

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